Two Brothers Honored For Medical Help Overseas

Penn State alumni Vince and Vance Moss weren't able to see their ABC News "Person of the Week" feature last week. Instead, the twin brothers were back in Iraq doing the very thing they were honored for: caring for civilians on their own time. The brothers, who are both Class of 1994 graduates, returned to Iraq on Jan. 26 for another month of service there.

During the trip, which is their third visit to the Middle East, they will be on active duty with a government agreement to continue their humanitarian work by offering medical care, according to the news segment. "When you look at our pictures, and you look at the eyes of the little kids, a lot of them we treated, I think you will come to the same conclusion that we have -- it was certainly worth it," Vance said during the segment, which aired Friday night. The "Person of the Week" honor is not the first time the brothers have been recognized for their work. The brothers were honored last month with Trumpet Awards, which are given to successful African Americans.

Other winners have included Halle Berry and McDonald's USA president Don Thompson. Xernona Clayton, creator and executive producer of the Trumpet Awards, said she met the brothers Jan. 10 during the awards banquet, which will air March 1. She said the twins were accessible to the crowd and didn't seem to be bothered by the attention. Clayton said the award honorees are chosen because they are people who take their crafts and skills and do something beyond wealth and fame for themselves.

The Moss brothers are "vivid examples" of helping others, she said. She said they used their own money to enter a dangerous area where they were without government protection to help children and women.

"It is such a marvelous story, and it typifies what they do all the time," Clayton said. She said the twins also spent their own money to send two Iraqi children with severe needs to New York hospitals for treatment. "They had each other, and that's all they had," she said.

During the Moss' years at Penn State, they were highly involved in politics, making headlines numerous times. According to Daily Collegian archives, Vance and Vince became part of a controversy when they joined Chi Phi fraternity, 360 E. Hamilton Ave. At the time, Chi Phi was a predominantly white fraternity. During their junior year, they started the Youth Leadership Involvement Campaign, to focus on stopping violence and drug use among American youth. They also were the campaign managers for a Penn State student who ran unsuccessfully for State College mayor in 1993. The Moss brothers ran for Undergraduate Student Government president and vice president during their senior year.

"Penn State alumni Vince and Vance Moss are to be commended for their courageous humanitarian volunteer medical efforts as well as their military service," Penn State spokeswoman Jill Shockey wrote in an e-mail. "Their example of human service and their professional accomplishments represent outstanding achievement worthy of the national recognition they have received and continue to receive."

Story Credit:  The Daily Collegian, Feb. 2008